Rescue puppy, advice on knowing if I need to rehome
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It's a lab. They're not exactly the most sensitive beasts. I think she'll get over it. Consider also that puppies at six months are raging arseholes. They act like complete idiots. Give the lab some extra love - take her for some long walks one on one without the puppy. Make sure the puppy has crate time and spend that time with the lab.
Excellent advice!
OP: Give your older lab and the puppy some time to adjust. Everything has changed and everything is new when you introduce another dog to a household. When we got a new puppy (years ago), our lab took off to my mother/father in law's house next door and refused to come home except for her meals lol. They became the best of friends. Good for you for being a rescue family!
OP: Give your older lab and the puppy some time to adjust. Everything has changed and everything is new when you introduce another dog to a household. When we got a new puppy (years ago), our lab took off to my mother/father in law's house next door and refused to come home except for her meals lol. They became the best of friends. Good for you for being a rescue family!
Heh. I just met a guy at the dog park who had 2 husky pups - 4 months and 5 months.
I said, "Dude.... whoa."
He said "yeah, it's been interesting."
I queried, "You do know they've still got their arsehole months ahead of them, right?"
He said wearily "Yeah, I know. I know."
Fortunately, they were adorable, so the urge to strangle them will probably not be too strong.
I can not imagine having two puppies at once.. I think that might kill me.
After a couple of the "arsehole" responses in here, my husband and I are affectionately calling this stage in the puppy's life it's "arsehole stage". It kind of helps me to keep my sanity, really.
She really is making leaps and bounds in training though. I'm amazed at how smart she is... it's almost scary.
Hi everyone. My first post on this amazing site and it is in the dog forum. I'm having a little bit of trouble thinking through this all clearly without my emotions getting the best of me, so I could use a little help.
I adopted/rescued a puppy not quite a week ago. She was running the streets around town, not being fed, and was scared of most people. The town stepped in and picked her up. The offered her up for adoption, otherwise she was going to a rescue place. I had seen this puppy (6 months old aprox.) several times and have even fed her. I felt so bad for her and wanted nothing more than to give her a loving home. So, my husband and I took her home.
The trouble is, we have an 8 year old lab who has basically always been our one and only. She has never been aggressive towards other dogs, so we didn't think we would have that problem.
Since bringing home the puppy, our lab has withdrawn completely. She doesn't want to be around us or the puppy. Our lab won't play with us anymore. As soon as the puppy comes around, our lab takes off. She doesn't even greet me at the door anymore. I feel like I've completely lost her and it breaks my heart.
Last night our lab actually got aggressive with the puppy. Not in an all out fight kind of way, but she pinned her by the neck, then let go and walked off.
Both are female. Our lab is fixed. We had planned on getting the puppy fixed too, but are wondering if keeping her is even a good idea at this point.
The whole situation is stressing everyone out. All our focus is on training the puppy and trying to keep our lab happy.
Any suggestions are welcome! My husband and I feel awful bringing the puppy in and then possibly not keeping her. But even more so, we feel bad that our lab is so upset.
My thoughts; you just have to give your lab time to adjust. I am sure she will be fine in a few weeks. Of course it is a shock to her not to be the one and only, but labs particularly adjust pretty well to changes. Hopefully they will turn out to be great friends. Right now for your lab,it is a similar situration to her losing a friend, all dogs or cats will mourn a loss, in this case the good news she is gaining a friend.
Our lab did better yesterday. I can definitely tell when she's had enough though, and I"m hoping the puppy catches on to that.. I try to help curb the puppy's energy, but right now I feel like all my energy is spent on the puppy. I just did not realize that I would be this exhausted. I don't remember the lab being this tough.. then again I was 19 when I got her.
We are working on doing everything with our lab first, but feeding is a tough one. The puppy was not fed well before and if we try to feed our lab before the puppy all hell breaks loose. We only have two rooms in the house that we can actually close off from the others they are the bedroom and the bathroom, so its hard to even separate the puppy at feeding time.
Puppies just like kids can be very different, your lab may have been an easy one and the current puppy a more difficult one. My late Jazz was a very difficult puppy, there were days I did not want to come home from work because I just did not want to deal with her. She was smart so very easy to train but being smart also caused many issues as she would figure out how to do many things you really did not want a puppy doing and being a border collie X cattle dog her on /off switch was stuck on go go go. That puppy never napped during the day so yeah she was exhausting and for years I claimed I would never ever get a young puppy again. ( she did however grow up to become my once in a life time dog )
Well 16 yrs later when I started looking for a new dog as one of my two was not going to be around much longer . People started sending me photos of available dogs often puppies and most very cute but I said Nope No puppies. Well then came the photo of a puppy in a high kill Texas shelter ( I am in Ca) and it screamed I am your dog so suddenly my no more young puppy rule flew out the window and I adopted that puppy but she was such an easy puppy. So different then raising Jazz.
I will admit I had to laugh at your saying you were 19 when the lab was a puppy as if it is 8 now that makes you about 27...I hate to tell you that is not old so being exhausted is not due to your age but rather to the fact that this is an active puppy. A nurse I know who is 24 just got her first puppy and she told me it is more work then she imagined. She says "Oh it is like having a baby, it is great birth control" Yup puppies can be a lot of work!
I have wide door ways that make using baby gates difficult too so I use and ex pen stretched open across a wide door way if I need to gate a dog in one room.
Things will get better as puppies do grow up and one day when they are old you will think why was I in such a hurry for the puppy to grow up?
Yes, Dashdog I'm 27 and exhausted by a puppy. Haha. I think we just go so used to how laid back our lab has become that this puppy has been a real eye opener. It is amazing how much work is involved... But she really is catching on very quickly.
Thanks again for everyone's words of wisdom and encouragement. My husband and I had an official talk last night to keep her and continue working with her. We talked about what our expectations are and how much work is involved and I think we both feel better knowing where everything sits now. Now we just need to make sure and get her fixed soon so there is no issue of dominance. After a lot of Google searching, we think we finally figured out what she "might" be. We thing she is a redbone coonhound and boxer mix. She's adorable that's for sure.
Heh. I just met a guy at the dog park who had 2 husky pups - 4 months and 5 months.
I said, "Dude.... whoa."
He said "yeah, it's been interesting."
I queried, "You do know they've still got their arsehole months ahead of them, right?"
He said wearily "Yeah, I know. I know."
Fortunately, they were adorable, so the urge to strangle them will probably not be too strong.
That person is either very brave or...
OP, sounds like you are making progress. Lots of good advice so far too.
I second the suggestion to feed the pup in her crate.
Good luck!
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It kind of helps me to keep my sanity, really.
I'm having a little bit of trouble thinking through this all clearly without my emotions getting the best of me, so I could use a little help.
) 
After a lot of Google searching, we think we finally figured out what she "might" be. We thing she is a redbone coonhound and boxer mix. She's adorable that's for sure.
